PREFACE. V 



Black, Racket, and many other smaller rivers. Some of the mountains, such as Mount 

 Marcy, Mount M'Intyre, and Whiteface, rise to the height of from 4900 to 5400 feet, 

 and afford a truly alpine vegetation. On some of the higher peaks are found Epilobium 

 alpinum, Solidago Virgaurea, Rhododendron Lapponicum, Vaccinium uliginosum, Diapensia 

 Lapponica, Empetrum nigrum, Poa alpina, Hierochloa alpina, Juncus tri/idus, Carex saxatilis, 

 Aira atropurpurea, and other plants peculiar to high mountains of the northern hemisphere, 

 or natives of the arctic zone. Some of the characteristic plants of the less elevated por- 

 tions of this region are Jinemone multifida, Draha arabizans, Ceanothus ovalis, JVardosmia 

 palmata, Jlster ptarmicoides, Arnica mollis, Halenia deflexa, Batschia canescens,Dracocep/ialum 

 parviflorum, Hahenaria ohtusata, Alnus viridis, Allium Canadense, Juncus stygius and 

 Equisetum scirpoides. In its general features, the botany of this region is very similar to 

 that of Southern Canada and the Northern New-England States. 



Some plants are common to the Northern and Western Regions, but do not occur in the 

 Valley of the Hudson, nor on Long Island ; such as Turritis stricta, JYasfurtium natans, 

 Hypericum ellipticum, Astragalus Canadensis, Geum rivale ^ Canadense, Comarum, palustre, 

 Tiarella cordifolia, Gnaphalium decurrens, Pyrola unijlora, Shepherdia Canadensis, Strep- 

 topus amplexicaulis, and Juncus filiformis. 



The State of New- York is the northern limit of a considerable number of species. Thus 

 Magnolia acuminata occurs on the Niagara River, and on the borders of Lake Ontario, 

 somewhat beyond the latitude of 43°, while its eastern limit is the northern part of Columbia 

 County. Opuntia vulgaris has been found in the southern part of Herkimer County. 

 Hydrocharis cordifolia, which Dr. Bkadley detected on the swampy borders of Lake 

 Ontario, is a remarkable instance of a southern plant being found so far north, without 

 occurring in the intervening country. Aconitum undnatum is sparingly seen on the banks 

 of the Chenango River, in latitude 42°. Jfelumbium luteum is a native of Big Sodus Bay 

 on Lake Ontario, in lat. 43° SO' ; beyond which, to the north, it has not hitherto been 

 observed. Long Island is the northern limit of numerous species, such as Quercus Phellos, 

 prinoides if nigra, besides many of those which have been enumerated as the peculiar 

 plants of that region. 



The southern limits of plants are not so well defined as the extent of their range towards 

 the north ; for many northern species aite found along the tracts of mountains, where the 

 temperature is low and the air moist, several degrees south of their ordinary places of 

 growth. Still we have a few plants in our Flora, which, I believe, have not been observed 

 south of the State of New-York ; such as Hippuris vulgaris, Myriophyllum teneltum, Selinum 

 Canadense, Valeriana sylvatica, Pterospora Andromedea, Populus Balsamifera, and Shep- 

 herdia Canadensis. 



We can boast of but few plants that are unknown out of the limits of our Flora. Pyrola 

 uliginosa, a new species, is almost the only unequivocal one of this class. Scolopendrium 

 vulgare (an European fern) is certainly indigenous in the western part of the State, and 

 I have no information of its having been found elsewhere in North America. The rarest 

 of all ferns, Onoclea ohtusilobata, first described by Schkuhr, and now unknown to any 



